


i wish you'd stay

by guidebook



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, First Kiss, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, OOC, Short & Sweet, can this even be considered angst?, gosalyn doesn't speak she only shows up in most scenes, i guess?, very vague kiss scene with NO further implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27173471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guidebook/pseuds/guidebook
Summary: Launchpad keeps leaving despite Drake asking him to stay.
Relationships: Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack
Comments: 3
Kudos: 101





	i wish you'd stay

**Author's Note:**

> it's almost 2 am, but I feel so smart, even after forgetting where I was going with this halfway through writing it. I think this was going to be one of those 5 + 1's but then it got lost, I got distracted looking up certain words and soccer positions.

_I love you_.

Launchpad says it three weeks after Gosalyn and Drake start settling down in their new home.

Drake hears it. But that’s it. He _hears_ it, and it’s nothing more than background noise because, at the same time, he’s helping Gosalyn choose a color for her new room while also wondering if they should repaint the living room and replace the wallpaper in the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Gosalyn look in Launchpad’s direction, but he keeps trying to explain the difference between two shades of green.

In the end, he only gives Launchpad a halfhearted _me too_ before moving onto a pretty shade of purple that reminds him of _Darkwing Duck_. Then, when he asks Launchpad about it on the way home, Launchpad laughs nervously and waves him off, suggesting that they should go to Hamburger Hippo for dinner. 

  
  
  
  
  


_You’re amazing, I love you_.

Launchpad says it again a month later, voice low. This time, they’re in the comfort of Drake’s living room. The movie is still going on in the back, but Drake’s attention is turned towards Gosalyn, who’s fallen asleep already.

Drake looks up at him, wide-eyed, and he opens his beak only to close it again. But it’s shut again when Gosalyn stirs, opening her eyes halfway to ask if the movie’s ended. As soon as Drake tells her no, Launchpad insists on taking her to her room so she could get some proper sleep. And Gosalyn, not one to miss the opportunity to get carried somewhere, agrees and crawls into Launchpad’s arms, immediately thanking him because they all know she’ll be asleep again by the time they get to her room.

Launchpad makes the trip alone, walking up the stairs, tucking Gosalyn into bed, and being the last one to say goodnight to her because Drake said it and kissed her forehead before his little princess got swept away. When he comes back, ready to grab his sweater off his assigned hook and head out, Drake calls him back to the living room.

“You should move in, we have space,” Drake offers. It’s not the first time he asks Launchpad to move in. It’s the seventh, actually, but Launchpad has turned him down six times already. (He fears messing up what they have now.) “ _You_ could get some proper sleep, no more driving late at night or early in the morning. No more worrying about being late to something.”

 _No more fears of you suddenly deciding you don’t want to come back_.

 _You should stay_. _Please stay_.

_I want to. Why don’t you?_

“I’ll think about it,” Launchpad says, rubbing the back of his neck, just like every other time. He gives Drake a small smile and they walk to the door together. When Launchpad grabs his jacket off the hook, he stares at the nametag Gosalyn made. It’s plane-shaped and red.

“Drive safe.”

They hug before Launchpad drives off, and Drake watches from the doorstep. He stands there, for a while, even after the limo is long gone.

_What’s stopping you?_

  
  
  
  
  


Gosalyn has made new friends at school.

One of them holds a sleepover, and although hesitant, Drake lets her go. (Launchpad convinced him.) He helps her pack her bag, putting in more things than necessary for a sleepover consisting of fourteen-year-old girls. Gosalyn takes out two of the three toothbrushes he packs, and they get into an argument about whether or not she’ll really need to take more than one pair of shoes.

Launchpad and Drake drive her to her friends’ house, waving goodbye from the car. Launchpad has to stop Drake from pulling Gosalyn back into the car and making her come back home because it’s her first time spending the night away from home and he has the right to be nervous. Launchpad reassures him that there’s nothing to worry about. They know the girl, and they’ve met her parents more than once. She’s on the soccer team, but she’s the goalie while Gosalyn takes stands center forward.

When they get home, Drake makes dinner and Launchpad helps as much as he can, but he stands to the side talking about nothing for the better part of the hour. They talk about _Darkwing Duck_ and about the couple moving in with their two sons next door. Drake asks Launchpad about whether or not _he_ plans on moving in. He gets no answer; not like he was expecting one anyway.

They go on patrol later that night. They get beaten down in one fight, they win the next. They send some villains to jail, and Drake trips over his cape on the way back to the ratcatcher. Launchpad gets pulled into Drake’s bedroom and they stay up watching their favorite _Darkwing Duck_ episodes. And when Drake falls asleep, Launchpad puts the laptop away and makes sure Drake’s comfortable enough that he won’t wake up cranky in the morning. Then he whispers _I love you_ before going back to Duckburg.

  
  
  
  
  


_Please stay._

  
  
  
  
  


“Why do you keep leaving? Why? I ask you to stay, _I want you to stay_ , but you just keep leaving!” Drake’s fed up. Gosalyn’s fast asleep in her room, and he’s trying not to yell because it’s two in the morning but Launchpad’s trying to leave, and Drake’s got a death grip on the arm of his jacket. “What am I doing wrong?”

“You’re not doing anything wrong,” Launchpad answers. He’s trying to stay calm, but his eyes are watering and his voice cracked at the end.

“Then _why?_ ” Drake cries, his voice is desperate and barely above a whisper. Tears are already rolling down his cheeks. He hiccups, moving closer to Launchpad. His hands move from the arm of Launchpad’s jacket to the collar.

“ _I don’t know_.”

He doesn’t. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t want to mess up, he doesn’t want to hurt them, but he already has by leaving at the end of the night every time. So what else is there to lose?

But then he’s pulled down, and Drake’s against the wall, and Launchpad didn’t think anything could feel so bittersweet. Then his jacket’s on the floor and their hands fit together so perfectly, and Launchpad doesn’t know why he’s waited so long. Why he’s been denying the feelings he kept putting out in the open for the last six months.

And later, when he’s in bed with Drake curled up at his side, his _I love you_ is answered when Drake whispers it back in the dark of night.

**Author's Note:**

> yes, That one scene IS implying the muddlefoots.
> 
> also, thank you for your time.
> 
> also posted on tumblr @ducksona :p


End file.
